The present invention relates generally to conducting electronic commercial transactions over a computer network. More particularly, the present invention relates to comprehensive online tracking of shipment information over a computer network.
Electronic commerce systems for conducting commercial transactions over a computer network, such as the Internet, are shown and described in numerous U.S. patents, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,285,383 and 5,063,507 to Lindsey et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,915 to Kirsch et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,542 to King et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,774,873 to Berent et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,542 to King et al., for example, discloses a system for ordering items from a supplier. The system includes an electronic catalogue and an electronic requisition facility. The catalogue includes a public-access portion, stored on a publicly-accessible database for access by customers, and a private portion, stored on a customer""s computer system. The private portion contains unique pricing data based on pricing agreements. Customers use the electronic requisition facility to create purchase requisitions based on the information in the electronic catalogue. The requisitions are routed through an appropriate approval process, processed through the customer""s procurement system, and transmitted to the supplier.
In combination with systems such as the one described above, it is often useful for the customer to be able to track the progress of its shipment, so as to more accurately predict the arrival date and time of the order. In response to this demand, many well known carriers such as United Parcel Service (UPS) and Federal Express (FedEx) provide online tracking of orders over the world wide web. Each shipment is provided with a tracking number, often in the form of a bar code, which uniquely identifies the items in the shipment. This barcode is scanned at various waypoints during the shipping process, thereby identifying the most recent location of the shipment. By entering in the order""s tracking number at the delivery vendor""s web site, customers can track the progress of their order.
Unfortunately, conventional types of online order tracking systems require customers to leave the supplier""s web site and navigate to the carrier""s web site to obtain tracking information. This is undesirable and inconvenient when the customer wishes to conduct further business with the supplier. Further, not all carriers provide for online tracking of shipments. In particular, many smaller carriers have neither the resources nor the capabilities to implement such a feature. Also, because many suppliers ship orders with a large number of individual carriers, it is often inconvenient for a customer to navigate to several carriers"" web sites and input various different tracking numbers in order to determine the status of their orders.
It would be desirable to improve the convenience and efficiency of electronic commerce transactions by providing for tracking of particular orders wholly within the confines of the supplier""s web site, without the need for the customer to navigate off of the supplier""s site.
It would further be desirable to provide for on-site tracking of orders deliverable by multiple different carriers, particularly where alternative forms of online order tracking for a given carrier may not be available.
The present invention overcomes the problems noted above, and provides additional advantages, by providing for a method and system for the online tracking of orders placed with a supplier and shipped by any of a variety of different carriers, entirely within the confines of the supplier""s web site. A method in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention is performed by providing for electronic communication of delivery status information between a variety of different carriers and the supplier""s server. In response to a request by a customer, the method further provides through a supplier""s web site on the World Wide Web, an interface allowing a user to track the delivery status of any submitted order, regardless of the individual carrier shipping the order.
Methods, systems and programs in accordance with the present invention greatly increase the efficiency and convenience of tracking the delivery status of orders placed over a computer network.